João Gilbe do Prado de Oliveira was born in
Juazeiro (Bahia, Brazil) in 1931, into a musical family. From an early age on,
he was only interested in music and listened
to traditional Brazilian sounds as well as American jazz by Gerry Mulligan, Duke
Ellington and others. As a teenager, he played drums in a local band in
Juazeiro. Later, he taught himself guitar. At the age of eighteen, he moved to
Salvador de Bahia and became part of the vocal group Garotos da Lua. In 1950,
Gilberto joined another group in Rio de Janeiro for one year. They sent him
away for his unprofessional attitude and, for the next years, he had a hard
time.
Gilberto became chronically depressed and marijuana addicted. His girlfriend
(later famous bossa nova singer) Sylvia Telles left him. Among his friends was
Tom Jobim. In 1955, Gilberto moved to Porto Alegre where he re-established
himself and became a popular local musician. About half a year later, he moved
again, this time to his sister Dadainha. According to the legend, it was in
her bathroom that he developed his distinctive intimate singing style.
Gilberto went back to Rio de Janeiro in 1956. He soon started to work with
Antonio Carlos Jobim who had a job as an arranger and producer and developed a
new style based on samba. In 1957, Gilberto interpreted Jobim's Desafinando
and, in 1958, followed Bim-bam and Chega de Saudade, which
marked the beginning of bossa nova.
In 1961, the American
guitarist Charlie Byrd came to Brazil on a jazz tour organized by the U.S.
State Department. He immediately fell in love with the music of Jobim and
Gilberto and introduced his friend, saxophonist Stan Getz, to the new sound.
Getz and Byrd brought the bossa nova back to America where they released the
album Jazz Samba in 1962, which became a huge success. The bossa
nova-craze began to take off. The 1963-album Getz/Gilberto made João a
worldwide-known figure. However, the sensation on the album was Gilberto's
wife Astrud with the
tune The Girl From Ipanema. The single, a shortened version of the
album, became a hit in 1964. The bossa nova-craze produced brilliant and less
tasteful music. All major musicians paid their tribute to the new, hot style
from Brazil - which did not last very long, but produced some great classics
of popular music.
João voz e violão
is a quiet album, the first ever João Gilberto recorded without
accompanying musicians. He presents himself alone, as the album's title says,
only with his voice and guitar, which he plays in his distinctive, syncopated
style. The result is an intimate atmosphere and classic tunes which appear in
a new light. He interprets songs written by Caetano
Veloso (Desde que o Samba É Samba), Tom Jobim (Você Vai
Ver), Gilberto Gil (Eu Vim de Bahia) and others. Among the
highlights are his interpretations of Não Vou pra Casa (Antonio
Almeida/Roberto Roberti), Desafinado (Tom Jobim/Newton Mendonça) and Chega de Saudade
(Tom Jobim/Vinícius de Moraes). Among the less convincing versions are Coraçao Vagabundo
(Caetano Veloso) and Da Cor do Pecado (Bororó). João Gilberto has
delivered a marvelous album for attentive listeners, produced by Caetano
Veloso.
